Based on the mRNA expression data available from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) consortium (https://cancergenome.nih.gov/), we compared the levels of the indicated ATGs in different subtypes of RCC and found that the transcripts of ATG1, ATG16L1, LC3B and p62 were increased in the tumor compared with the normal tissues (Fig. 1). This evidence concerns the gene ULK1 and renal cell carcinoma.